Julia Lipnitskaya emerges as new ice darling

Yulia, are you afraid that there are more and more new little girls who skate that way so it is not clear how to compete with them?
The most important thing is that I understand what I should do myself and how I should do it…

Yulia, there is a question which worries many of your fans: how are you? (how do you feel?)
Normally. I have already got accustomed to the condition that I constantly have to cure of something. I had different kind of examination in Moscow but doctors didn’t assign me anything particular. Now I’m practicing, skating bit by bit. If you start rushing at practice at once, nothing will come out of it. Something will get injured again. I’ve started to use new blades. I’m skating on “EDEA” boots . These are soft boots and I have to change them often. But now, as we have time, we have decided to switch to the new blades. Some people say they are comfortable, some think otherwise. We will try and see.



After Rostelecom Cup many of our female skaters expressed the words of encouragement to support you in the social networks, but still figure skating is said to be an exceptionally individual sport.
I have received a lot of letters from different people: figure skaters, fans, even from the people who aren’t very interested in our sport. This is very important to me, especially in hard times. To be honest, I was shocked myself because of what happened during the skate. I won’t go into details. This is not called for. Of course, this kind of turn of events was difficult to foresee. My coach and me had absolutely different plans and in any case. To be honest, I don’t envy Alexei Evgenievich. Don’t know how he endures and stands all of this. I feel bitter that everything happened that way.

Do you plan to compete before the Nationals?
No, we won’t have time to rehabilitate and get prepared. Initially, we planned that after GP in Moscow I would be on the rise and we would be able to complicate the programs and continue skating and polishing them. But, as my coach told: fate makes its own allowances which don’t sit well with me. Don’t sit well at all. We have to get back to the start, to start from nothing and to skate and polish this variant.

What is your daily routine?
I get up and go to practice. I don’t always have breakfast in the morning, as sometimes I have no strength to cope with everyday domestic affairs and moreover, I’m not very hungry in the morning. Overall physical training, ice practice, cool down exercises. After it I go home and there is a couple of hours for rest. If I get too tired, I can sleep 1-1,5 hours. Then I have dinner. And again practice. In the evening I have some stuff to cope with.

Washing, cooking, reading fine literature?
As well. I had quite convenient schedule in summer but there was no day that I was sitting at home. I always had some affairs which previously had been done by my mother but at that time I had to do everything myself. I quite often flew to Moscow. It wasn’t my initiative: there was some business which required me to attend. Now I spend all the time in Sochi. I go shopping myself, buy products and other stuff, wash and cook…



Can you cook?
That’s a good question. And what do you think? I live all alone now. Actually I have a lot of signature dishes. But the simplest and day-to-day dish, these are elementary salads. You can eat it all day long. We also have a good canteen here. If I get very tired or don’t know what I want to eat, I can eat there. They cook quite well.

Do you manage to go somewhere at the weekends?
Not every weekends. Sometimes. You can go to the mountains, to the viewing points, you can go to the restaurant, to wander along the quay in Sochi. To be honest I haven’t been there for a long time. Or you can watch a movie. But I have no one to take with me. Only my coach. But he needs to take a rest from me. It has become a custom that at the weekends we break up with Alexei Evgenievich. And each of us takes care of one’s own affairs.